MacPhail on Hobgood

[itsernst]

I swear...you never cease to amaze me. Do you just sit in your room kicking puppy dogs all day? You have to be the most negative person I have ever met. The kid is talented; Matzek may have been the top overall HS pitcher, but the staff felt like he wasnt a good fit. Does McPhail tell you that you are flipping the burgers wrong when you are at work?

The bolded part is just ridiculous; Rarely...very rarely will you see a HS kid pass up millions for college, especially if he is a pitcher; The fact is that injuries are a part of the game and to say a pitcher would pass it up millions of dollars (no matter what franchise) to get a college education is a fallacy.

See bold.

-letters

[Lucky Jim]

What about Gerrit Cole who the Yankees drafted?

And no I don't flip burgers for a living and frankly I find that offensive not because flipping burgers is beneath me, but because you are trying to insult me by saying that people that flip burgers are lesser people. MacPhail is basically like the CEO of the Orioles, and like any CEO who makes the money he does is subject to scrutiny.

You don't offer scrutiny. You offer monomaniacal hysteria.

There's a difference, but most of realize by now that you don't know what the difference is.

[itsernst]

What about Gerrit Cole who the Yankees drafted?

And no I don't flip burgers for a living and frankly I find that offensive not because flipping burgers is beneath me, but because you are trying to insult me by saying that people that flip burgers are lesser people. MacPhail is basically like the CEO of the Orioles, and like any CEO who makes the money he does, he is subject to scrutiny.

Wow...just wow.

[McLovin]

Hey guess what - Markakis was scorned as a 'signability' pick. I remember people freaking out because we didn't pick the great Michael Aubrey.

[wickedwitch]

But why does ours have to be less than Oakland's when it comes to international signings and the draft?

If the Orioles do have a lesser budget, why do you assume that this is MacPhail's doing and not Angelos'?

[JTrea81]

If the Orioles do have a lesser budget, why do you assume that this is MacPhail's doing and not Angelos'?

Because I believe MacPhail has total control of Baseball Operations but is risk adverse and frugal just like Angelos. Hence why Angelos trusts him.

[ChaosLex]

This thread is fast approaching "classic" status.

[RenegadeOsFan]

Look at Smoak/Posey/Beckham vs. Matusz for instance. You now couldn't trade Matusz to get any of those guys straight up.

I agree with you Trea, I know you probably could not. That is because a top-tier premium arm like Matusz is either equal or much more valuable to our organization right now than to those three you compare.

I was actually a Smoak proponent during last years draft, but reality hit me a long time ago Trea.

I don't post much around here, but I read here a lot, and your logic hurts. Stop comparing Smoak to Matusz, please man. If there is one thing that I have learned over the past year, it is that pitching outweighs hitting...especially when you are trying to contend in the AL East.

Your constant comparison is not a true comparison. You cannot compare the progress and projection of a positional player to a pitcher like the way you are doing. Instead look at how far Matusz has come in only 3 months so far this year. The kid is going to be amazing. The only way that you can compare Matusz to a positional player, I think, is by looking at how he is progressing as quickly as Weiters did through his movement in the farm systems. Other than that, please only compare Matusz to a pitcher from last years draft from now on.

And about your argument that MacPhail is frugal...again I have to agree with you Trea.

Per Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, frugality is being careful in the use of one's money or resources. MacPhail's track records show that the man is careful with his money and the budgets that he is given. But the record also reflects how efficient and good the man is at his job. He spends money when he needs to and holds back from, as you stated, burning himself.

Why is this direction of running a business bad to you? Especially in an economy that is in the condition it is in today.

I want to reiterate what Moose said, the Orioles are not the Sox or Yankees. We cannot burn money the way that they can, nor can we even burn money the way that you want. The way you have been arguing these past months you could pass yourself off as working for the Federal Treasury or the Federal Reserve by the way you want to toss out money that is not really there. And real quick, have you not heard Dave Johnson report back in April that the Orioles initial offer to Texieira was the $140 and that Boras and his client never contacted the Orioles after that? That's not low-balling, that is negotiating and proof that Mark never wanted to come to B-more.

In regards to the money the A's and Rays have paid to draft picks and international players, was it not only 2 years ago that MacPhail created the international scouting program for the Orioles? Where we are now scouting players in Asia finally and created a complex in the Dominican to scout players from that region? Give the team time to grow before you start lambasting it and comparing them to other teams. Why do you neglect to mention these facts in your posts Trea?

Everyone is allowed his/her opinion and I, like many others, respect some of the opinions you write on the board Trea. However, your constant bias attitude against MacPhail and the FO is repulsive. If you backed your opinions with more facts and not mere puffery then discussions like these will benefit all of us instead of making us having to take two tylenols before refreshing the screen.

[Old#5fan]

What on earth are you even talking about? He's irritated because he absolutely thinks that Hobgood was the best player available, probably because Jordan thinks he was the best player available, but people are running with the perception that it was just a signability pick. That's all that comment was. It sounds like he just got tired of hearing "Oh, you guys just picked Hobgood because he would sign, not because he was the best talent," and wanted to set the record straight.

You think Matzek's a better pitcher then fine. Whatever. The FO thinks that Hobgood was the better pitcher, and it's certainly a plus BUT NOT THE DETERMINING FACTOR that Hobgood wants to play here and will sign. He's basically saying, "Just because a kid's going to be a tough sign doesn't make him the best player."

This thread will be funny to revisit in a few years to see how Matzek's faring compared to Hobgood. I got a bad feeling with Hobgood. I think he's going to join the long list of bad first round picks like Beau Hale, Billy Rowell, Larry Bigbie, et al.

[Lucky Jim]

This thread will be funny to revisit in a few years to see how Matzek's faring compared to Hobgood. I got a bad feeling with Hobgood. I think he's going to join the long list of bad first round picks like Beau Hale, Billy Rowell, Larry Bigbie, et al.

Well, with all that in-depth research you do, this is pretty ominous.

[geschinger]

Look at Smoak/Posey/Beckham vs. Matusz for instance. You now couldn't trade Matusz to get any of those guys straight up.

I don't think you could do the opposite either. I don't think one of Smoak/Posey/Beckham would be enough for the Orioles to trade Matusz.

[Frobby]

Look at Smoak/Posey/Beckham vs. Matusz for instance. You now couldn't trade Matusz to get any of those guys straight up.

Says who? These guys are having good years, but so is Matusz, and I'm just as satisfied with that pick today as I was a year ago.

[RenegadeOsFan]

Says who? These guys are having good years, but so is Matusz, and I'm just as satisfied with that pick today as I was a year ago.

I don't know if we should make a poll for this, but after 3 months of Matusz, and comparing him to the other guys Trea brought up, would you rather a Matusz, a potential #1 starter or someone like Smoak, a potential GG power-hitting positional player?

This goes out to everyone.

I'd take the #1 starter hands-down. Matusz is cleaning up in the minors.

[McLovin]

I don't know if we should make a poll for this, but after 3 months of Matusz, and comparing him to the other guys Trea brought up, would you rather a Matusz, a potential #1 starter or someone like Smoak, a potential GG power-hitting positional player?

This goes out to everyone.

I'd take the #1 starter hands-down. Matusz is cleaning up in the minors.

But we already have so many great starters on the Big League team. We need to develop hitters to mitigate the weak core of Reimold-Jones-Markakis-Roberts-Wieters...

[RenegadeOsFan]

But we already have so many great starters on the Big League team. We need to develop hitters to mitigate the weak core of Reimold-Jones-Markakis-Roberts-Wieters...

Touche McLovin. How could I be so blind to that blatant weakness? :eektf: